The most important event on the lunar calendar begins on January 31 in 2014, and in China the entire country shuts down for a week-long national holiday.

This is one of the rare times when congested Beijing is transformed into a ghost town as millions of people leave to celebrate the occasion with their loved ones.

But around the country, travel volume surpasses that figure by a mile - and never fails to shock outsiders.

According to China’s official news agency Xinhua, 3.42 billion trips were made on public transport during the 2013 Spring Festival.

The extension of the high speed rail network and upgraded train system has been a blessing for many because they don’t have to spend as many hours on the road.

But securing a ticket is the first stressful hurdle to overcome.

That can be a challenge even though extra trains are scheduled during the peak travel season.

Tickets for these extra train services went on sale on December 23; most will be on sale from December 28.

Some travellers near Beijing Railway Station, one of the transport nerve centres in the Chinese capital, are stressing out in advance.

“I think it will be difficult because I lent someone some money and I have been trying to get him to pay me back for more than a month,” said one man who had just arrived from a province in North Eastern China."

“It’s been difficult getting tickets in the past. I can’t get through to the hotline,” said another.

Chinese railway authorities estimate 257 million passenger trips will be made during the holiday season, an increase of nearly eight percent.

Many of the tickets will be bought online, especially for travellers based in cities along the more prosperous east coast.

However China’s online railway ticketing system has struggled to keep up with demand in the past, resulting in ridicule from the national media.

One traveller wasn’t put off by this.

“I’ll probably buy my ticket 10 days before the start of the Spring Festival, before it becomes too difficult to get one.”